At the end of January of the 27th year of the Republic of China, a few days after the Fifth War Zone surrounded the Japanese 5th and 10th Divisions, the leader of the national government, Chairman Chiang Kai-shek, flew to Xuzhou in person.
Chairman Chiang had three major purposes for his trip. First, the Sichuan Army leader Liu Xiang died suddenly of illness in Hankou Hospital. There were different opinions about this. Some said he died of illness, and some said he was poisoned to death at the order of the military under Chairman Chiang. There were rumors.
Next, the Sichuan Army soldiers on the Xuzhou front line were already feeling uneasy. Chairman Chiang's visit was mainly to appease the Sichuan Army soldiers.
The second was to secretly arrest the Shandong warlord Han Fuju and reorganize the Shandong Front Army, the 3rd Army.
Speaking of which, Chairman Chiang and Han Fuju had an old grudge. During the warlord melee, Han Fuju often hindered Chairman Chiang. Chairman Chiang had wanted to kill Lao Han for more than a day or two. This time Han Fuju ignored the overall situation of the anti-Japanese war.
, took the troops and fled without fighting, but gave Chairman Chiang an excuse to kill him.
The third thing is to meet Yue Weihan, his confidant and "favorite general".
Since the Battle of Baoshan broke out, Chairman Chiang has been paying attention to Yue Weihan for a long time, but he has never officially met this student and fellow countryman. For this meeting, Chairman Chiang even made a special trip to send Wang Shihe, the chief of the national guard, back to his hometown in Fenghua to general
Yue Weihan's old father picked him up and flew to Xuzhou on the same plane. It can be said that he took great pains.
At ten o'clock in the morning, Chairman Chiang's special plane, escorted by six fighter jets, arrived at Xuzhou Airport on time. Li Zongren, Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Theater Command, had already rushed to the airport to greet him. Besides Bai Chongqi, Deputy Chief of General Staff, he was accompanied by
In addition to many first-level generals in the fifth theater, there is also the little major general Yue Weihan.
Chairman Chiang got off the plane and shook hands with the senior party and state generals who came to greet him one by one. When he came to Han Fuju, Chairman Chiang even gave a few words of encouragement, as if he was unwilling to pursue the Shandong Army's crime of abandoning the city and losing land.
Han Fuju felt a lot more at ease. During this period, his days were really like years, and he was always worried about old Jiang's settlement of accounts.
After all the senior generals had exchanged greetings, it was finally the turn of the little major general Yue Weihan.
Yue Weihan pulled on his brand-new major general uniform, took two steps forward, stood at attention and saluted: "Commitment!"
This was the first time that Yue Weihan saw Chairman Chiang Kai-shek in person, and he was exactly the same as in the portraits of later generations.
"Well, you don't need to be polite to be loyal!" Chairman Chiang returned the military salute casually, then stepped forward to shake hands with Yue Weihan and said, "Lord and loyal, who do you think is here?"
Having said that, Chairman Chiang turned sideways.
Yue Weihan turned his head when he heard the sound and saw an old figure walking out from behind Chairman Chiang with a cane. Yue Weihan had actually seen this old man for a long time. He originally thought he was a senior government official accompanying Chairman Chiang on his tour.
But now it seems that is not the case, it seems that the old man has a close relationship with him.
Immediately, Yue Weihan realized that this old man was most likely his "old father".
At that moment, Yue Weihan took two steps forward, saluted the old man with a standard military salute, and said solemnly: "My child has met his father."
The old man's eyes immediately became moist, and he said with great relief: "Son, I am very relieved that you can change your past and get rid of your bad habits. Your mother should rest in peace."
Chairman Chiang smiled and said: "Mr. Yue, your son is now the pillar of the party and the country, a national hero, haha."
The old man shook his head and said: "Today the bandits are raging, our country has been devastated, and the people are in dire straits. All descendants of the Han family have the duty to kill the enemy to serve the country and drive out the Tartars. The little dog is just doing what he should do."
It’s just a matter of fact, but I don’t dare to be given the title of a pillar of the party and the country or a national hero.”
"Mr. Yue is too humble." Chairman Chiang said, "Loyalty and forgiveness are the merits of the establishment of the party and the country. Even if he is compared to Yue Fei, the ancestor of the Yue family, there is no more concessions."
"How dare you." The old man was very panicked when he heard this.
Chairman Chiang did not say much, and the photographers were already ready, so he called Yue Weihan and a group of senior generals from the Fifth War Zone to come over and take pictures together. He also specially asked Yue Weihan and his son to stand on both sides of him. After taking the group photo, Chairman Chiang
Still not satisfied, I took a few group photos with Yue Weihan alone.
After taking a group photo, Chairman Chiang, accompanied by a large group of senior generals, drove to the Fifth Theater Commander's Headquarters.
At the Commander's Department of the Fifth War Zone, Chairman Chiang specially asked Li Zongren to hold a brief ceremony. In front of many senior generals of the Fifth War Zone and the staff of the headquarters, he personally gave a Zhongzheng Sword to Yue Weihan, and then personally handed it to Yue Weihan.
A Medal of Blue Sky and White Sun and a Medal of Guoguang were worn on Yue Weihan's left chest.
The photographer once again took a group photo of Chairman Chiang Kai-shek and Yue Weihan.
The next day, a large group photo appeared on the front page of the Central Daily News and major government newspapers. In the photo, Chairman Chiang was sitting in the middle with his hands on his knees, looking gentle, while Yue Weihan was standing upright.
On the right side of Chairman Chiang, he wore two shining medals on his right chest, and the Zhongzheng Sword hung conspicuously on his armed belt.
Getting back to the topic, after the ceremony of awarding honors and swords, Chairman Chiang got down to business and immediately summoned all the senior generals of the Fifth War Zone to hold an emergency military meeting. This time, the attendees were all generals of the Fifth War Zone.
There is no need for a young major general like Yue Weihan anymore.
At the military meeting, Chairman Chiang turned his back on the spot and ordered the arrest of Shandong Provincial Security Commander Han Fuju.
The next day, Han Fuju was rushed to Wuhan. Seven days later, Lao Han was put on trial and shot.
However, Chairman Chiang adopted a conciliatory strategy for the Shandong Army generals headed by Shi Yousan and Gao Shuxun. Shi Yousan was appointed commander of the 69th Army, and Gao Shuxun was appointed commander of the new Sixth Division.
After pacifying the Shandong Army, Chairman Chiang began to work non-stop to appease the Sichuan Army.
Due to Liu Xiang's death due to illness, the director of the Sichuan-Kanglan Appeasement Office was vacant. Deng Xihou was immediately dismissed from the post of commander-in-chief of the 22nd Army by Chairman Chiang Kai-shek, and returned to central Sichuan to preside over the overall military and political affairs. The vacant commander-in-chief of the 22nd Army was replaced by Sun Yat-sen, commander of the 124th Division.
Zhen Zhen took over, and the 22nd Army, which suffered heavy casualties in the bloody battle in Teng County, was also reduced from the original two armies and four divisions to three divisions, but the designation of the group army was still retained.
This series of actions by Chairman Chiang made Li Zong miserable.
Deputy Chief of General Staff Bai Chongqi even scolded Jiang behind his back for being ignorant of current affairs and messing around. The decisive battle of Xuzhou Battle has now begun. It is the critical moment when all the generals in the war zone need to work together and the lives of officers and soldiers can be given to Jiang.
If someone interferes like this, at least the Shandong Army and the Sichuan Army will not be able to restore their combat effectiveness in the short term.
There is also the high-profile praise of Yue Weihan, which is obviously not the right time.
If the Battle of Xuzhou has ended, then Chiang Kai-shek cannot praise Yue Weihan too much. But at this time, conferring honors and swords on Yue Weihan in such a high-profile manner will inevitably disappoint the army commanders, division commanders, and brigade commanders who distinguished him in the fifth battle.
Jealous, Jiang's original intention may have been to boost morale, but the final result may have been counterproductive.
As the person involved, Yue Weihan didn't bother to care about these messy things.
After sending away his "old father", Yue Weihan devoted himself wholeheartedly to the training of the Baoshan Brigade and the Special Forces Team. In particular, the various training subjects and assessment standards of the Special Forces Team were all designed and formulated by Yue Weihan himself. Those eighteen
Although a "quasi-special force member" has passed the preliminary assessment, he may be eliminated at any time during subsequent training.
Yue Weihan's creed is that it is better to lack than to waste. He would rather set up a minimum-scale special force first than lower the selection and assessment standards for special force members, because the special force will have no supplies, no support, no rear, and even no hope.
It is absolutely impossible to fight in an environment without strong skills.
However, the encirclement and suppression operations against the Japanese 5th and 10th Divisions did not go smoothly.
After the Battle of Xuzhou officially opened, Chairman Chiang urgently mobilized more than a dozen elite divisions from various places. At this time, the number of national army troops gathered on the Xuzhou battlefield had reached more than sixty divisions, except for a few troops stationed on the Huaihe River defense line.
division, and the remaining fifty or so divisions gathered in the outskirts of Hanzhuang and Taierzhuang, launching attacks in turns against the Japanese Sakagaki Division and Isoya Division.
The Sakagaki Division and the Isoya Division relied on carefully constructed field fortifications, overwhelming artillery fire, and aviation support to disintegrate the national army's offensives time and time again. The Sakamoto detachment to which the Sakagaki Division belonged even launched several counterattacks.
, causing huge casualties to the national army units outside Taierzhuang.
In the fierce fighting until mid-February of the 27th year of the Republic of China (1938), the total number of casualties in each division of the Nationalist Army exceeded 100,000. The three divisions of the Sichuan Army's 22nd Group Army after its downsizing were almost completely wiped out. The Sakagaki Division and the Isotani Division
However, the regiment's position remained motionless, and even the Japanese positions outside Hanzhuang and Taierzhuang had not yet been breached.
At the end of February, the Bureau of Military Command received top-secret news that the 20 emergency divisions mobilized from the Japanese base camp had been basically organized and would be rushed to the Chinese battlefield in ten days at the earliest. These 20 divisions rushed to North China. After Central China, at least 15 of them
Each division will supplement the veteran regiment of a permanent division, and then will be sent to the Xuzhou battlefield.
At the earliest, by the end of March, 15 reserve divisions will arrive in Xuzhou after replenishing the veteran regiment.
Once the 15 Japanese divisions arrive, the situation on the Xuzhou battlefield will immediately take a turn for the worse. At that time, the top brass of the national army will no longer need to consider how to annihilate the Japanese 5th and 10th divisions, but how to annihilate them.
The issue of the safe retreat of more than 60 main divisions of the Chinese army from the Xuzhou battlefield has been solved.
In other words, the time left for the national army is now only one month.
If the Japanese 5th and 10th Divisions are still unable to be completely wiped out before the end of March, then the entire Xuzhou Battle will be considered a complete failure. Chairman Chiang Kai-shek is finally anxious this time, and urgently calls Tang Enbo’s Corps, which has been standing still, and the follow-up rush to the Xuzhou battlefield.
Huang Jie and more than a dozen elite divisions of the Central Army were ordered to fully cooperate with the fifth theater to deal with the enemy in person.